Practicing Skills

[Soggy]

You forgot SLIN: Skills Learned on InterNet

It's definitely joked about a lot, but I can say with complete confidence that many skills can be learned on the Internet if later practiced. Sometimes a detail here or there is missed, but the same is true if learning from an instructor.

There, I said it. If you pay attention, you can learn a lot on the Internet. I have definitely learned more from cyberdiving and then practicing than I have from instructors. Ridicule away.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I've learned a lot on the internet too. There's nothing wrong with getting information on the net as long as you can separate the good stuff from the crap.

 

[lamont]

There, I said it. If you pay attention, you can learn a lot on the Internet. I have definitely learned more from cyberdiving and then practicing than I have from instructors. Ridicule away.

Ultimately you are responsible for filtering the information that you receive and picking who you trust and listen to. There's nothing magical about instructors, they're just people and some of them are full of it, too.

Still there are some things that can't be taught on the internet at all. Nothing can replace having an instructor much more experienced than you are find team weaknesses and exploit them.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Nothing can replace having an instructor much more experienced than you are find team weaknesses and exploit them.

For some reason that evokes images of JoeRad and a wreck workshop we took together ... :mooner:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[lamont]

For some reason that evokes images of JoeRad and a wreck workshop we took together ... :mooner:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Yup, Uncle Pug is good at this as well. And RecTriox and Tech 1 are nothing but this.

 

[Uncle Pug]

I have definitely learned more from cyberdiving ... Ridicule away.

I was all set to do just that and then you finished with an invitation and took all the fun right out of it.

 

[SteveFass]

Those of you that practice in the water, would you please share some specific skills that apply to single tank, recreational diving?

Personally, during the safety stop when the tank is low I'm working on replacing the air in the tank I used up by blowing hard into the reg. Not much success yet - I think I'm not blowing hard enough.

I also like to spit the reg out and hopefully find it again, take my mask off (but hold on to it), use my SMB even if the dive leader is using one too, undo the hose to my BCD, practice different kicks. Boyancy control is part of the dive so I don't consider it practice

What other skills do you practice?

 

[Uncle Pug]

I'm assuming you do not have the costs listed in the same order as the models . . . ?

No... it was a descent~ascent form.

And I was tongue in cheeking about the "shared ignorance" model... sorta. Peer practice is very important as a part of the whole.
But by itself it does only represent shared ignorance. The optimal set of circumstances finds all three of these models in play.

And, while I don't believe skills can be learned on the internet I do think that the internet has brought the issue to the attention of people who would never have otherwise considered it.

 

[Uncle Pug]

What other skills do you practice?

How about air sharing ascent from max depth of your typical dive.
Should you do this at the end of your typical dive... to burn off that last bit of air? No.
But how about setting aside a dive specifically for practicing this skill... a skill that you might actually need someday.

 

[The Horn]

Skills for single tank diving is just about the same as all diving:

finning
mask clearing
breathing off secondary/octo
change from primary to pony or stage/deco what ever you want to call it
bouyancy - at safety stops try and hover at 15 for the 3 to 5 minutes-no cheating
shoot SMB at end of dive and ascend with it's line
lift concrete blocks off the bottom and move them about with lift bag
buddy breathing
communications, sign language
riding bicycles found on the bottom-tricky to do with fins but possible

you name it, you can practice it

Ever notice that the number one athletes are the ones who love the game and play is practice and practice is play?